Conductor Karla Lemon leads Beethoven's
No. 9 on May 18, 19

When the Berlin Wall came crashing down in
1989, Leonard Bernstein assembled an
international orchestra and chorus to proclaim
the new era via satellite. For Christmas Eve
performances from East Berlin and West Berlin,
the maestro chose ­ what else? ­ Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony.

"The hugeness, the idealism, the thrill
of massed forces proclaiming the glory of the
human spirit to a war-weary international
audience -- those were very much Beethoven's own
reaction to the times he lived in," J. Karla
Lemon, director of orchestras, wrote to members
of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra (SSO) in April
when they began to rehearse the demanding work.

On a recent evening in Dinkelspiel Auditorium,
with two weeks to go before performances in
Memorial Church on May 18 and 19, Lemon brought
the symphony home to a group of high-school
students who were sitting in on the SSO
rehearsal. At a time when many kids are
downloading favorite songs from the Internet at
home, she made a compelling case for listening to
live music in a concert hall.

"Sure, it can be irritating to sit next
to someone who's coughing or rustling candy
wrappers, but you're all in a room together,
sharing in the energy that flows from the stage
to the audience and back again," the
associate professor of music told the 59 string
players from Sprague High School in Salem, Ore.

"When you're in a concert hall, you're
also enjoying one another's company and finding
out how important it is to be with people,"
Lemon added. "And that enjoyment -- that
brotherhood -- is really what Beethoven's Ninth
Symphony is all about."

Lemon will conduct the SSO, Stanford Symphonic
Chorus and Stanford University Singers in
Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 at
8 p.m. Thursday, May 18, and Friday, May 19.
Joining the university musicians are four
internationally known soloists: soprano Twyla
Robinson, tenor Todd Geer, bass Curtis Streetman
and mezzo-soprano Jennifer Lane, a senior
lecturer in voice at Stanford.

Tickets are $15 for general admission and $8
for students, and may be purchased at the
Stanford Ticket Office, (650) 725-2787. or at the
door.

Beethoven composed the symphony between 1817
and 1823, when secret police, informers, spies
and bureaucrats hostile to art and freedom ranged
through Vienna. The work had its debut
performance on May 7, 1824, at the Kärntnertor
Theater, under the direction of Michael Umlauf.
Beethoven, who was totally deaf by that time, sat
with the orchestra, trying to keep pace with the
score, but had to be gently turned around by the
contralto soloist when the symphony ended, to
acknowledge the audience's ovation.

For years Beethoven had wanted to put to music
"Ode to Joy," a poem by Friedrich
Schiller, who sympathized with the French
Revolution and who is said to have originally
composed his work as an "Ode to
Freedom." Lemon notes that the first two
movements of the Ninth portray a "terrifying
depiction of the human condition," while the
texture of the third offers repose and solace,
with tender, reaching melodies. The questions
that are asked in the musical themes of the first
three movements are answered by human voices in
the finale, which begins in turmoil and then
introduces the familiar melody with a whisper.

"With a hush we turn from the brotherhood
of man to the fatherhood of God," Lemon says
about one reprise. "Trombones and male
voices intone like a Gregorian celebrant, and the
chorus answers in celestial Handelian polyphony.
This is the most 'purely' choral passage in the
movement. Building on antique model harmony, it
culminates with ethereal voices climbing toward a
starry canopy."

Beethoven laid on one surprise after another
in his composition and Lemon says the student
musicians will be exposed to "a world of
profound emotion and thought."

"It takes immense concentration to
execute the dotted rhythm that is repeated more
than 1,000 times in the second movement,"
she adds. "So they're learning to develop
stamina, both physical and mental, as they play
nonstop for one hour and 15 minutes."

At the May 4 rehearsal, Lemon occasionally
waded in among the first violins, drawing out a
more expressive, sustained sound. She called for
more staccato from the horns -- "the
articulation still isn't crisp enough" --
and more resonance from the bass and cello
players.

"We need an absolutely metronomic sense
of tempo here," she said about the last
presto of the fourth movement, where the violins
enter. "It has to be cleaner, more precise,
so it sounds like one tiny clock ticking."

Lemon assured the players they knew the music
technically, but needed to relax and find their
way emotionally.

"You have the notes, but you're working
too hard," she said. "Now you need to
back off and find the right energy. There needs
to be more heart, more joy when you come
in."

In rehearsal rooms in Braun Music Building,
Stephen Sano, associate professor of music and
director of choral studies, has been rehearsing
­ separately -- the 50 mostly undergraduate
students of the University Singers and the 180
faculty, staff, graduate students and community
members of the Stanford Symphonic Chorus.

"Musically the notes are easy to learn,
but vocally it's extremely taxing," Sano
says about the fourth movement, the only choral
part Beethoven wrote for a symphony.

In addition to the challenge of memorizing the
text, Sano adds the singers will have to adjust
to a new conductor when Lemon steps onto the
podium.

"It's Karla's show," he says.
"She and I sit down ahead of time and go
over tempi and phrasing, but it's still like
whiplash, facing a new conductor.

"I mean, I'm 5 feet 3 inches, and Karla
is close to 6 feet, with a tremendous wingspan --
so our physique when we conduct is totally
different. But learning different styles and
seeing what various conductors bring to the
process is one of the most exciting things about
a performance like this."

Lemon is dedicating the performance of the
orchestra on opening night to Helen Bing, wife of
trustee Peter Bing and a longtime friend and
supporter of the Music Department. The concert is
being underwritten, in part, by alumnus Dr. A.
Jess Shenson.

For Lemon, the joy that was a cardinal tenet
of Enlightenment thought transcends Beethoven's
challenging vocal writing.

"The sopranos and basses are scored at
the top of their ranges and the effort expended
by the chorus is gargantuan," she says.
"Audience members will probably intuit this
monumental feat and derive a vicarious thrill
from hearing a mass of singers deliver a
successful but intensely physical performance.
It's sort of like watching gladiators in the
forum, except that everyone makes it out
alive!"